


Shooting Lessons

by disgruntledchowchow



Series: One-Shots (at least for the time being) [1]
Category: Bridgerton (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:48:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29066853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disgruntledchowchow/pseuds/disgruntledchowchow
Summary: Daphne ~schemes~ Simon for shooting lessons *wink* *wink*.
Relationships: Daphne Bridgerton/Simon Basset
Series: One-Shots (at least for the time being) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2135856
Comments: 15
Kudos: 83





	Shooting Lessons

Simon had been “courting” Daphne for a couple of weeks now, and he had watched her blossom. They exchanged glances, winks and half-smiles across the room, she made sly comments, and if he had not sworn off love he would have been completely head over heels for the sexy vixen that had him wrapped around her little finger.

He had begun the teasing with the ice cream that first time at Gunter's, but the every-studious pupil, Daphne had picked up all his tricks and was not afraid to give as good as she got. Simon found himself looking forward to those ever-so dreaded ton events simply to be able to catch Daphne’s eye across the room, and if he was lucky..something more…maybe a conversation or a few dances where he could hold her close.

Daphne was not stupid. She knew there was something between her and Simon…had confirmed it when he came close to her earlier that day when they were promenading, and without raising his voice above a whisper, managed to take her breath away. His instructions -if one could refer to them as such- would not be forgotten, as if anything he did could be. She took each and every excuse to meet him, and when she closed her eyes it was visions of him that danced across her eyelids—memories of being in his arms, him rolling up his sleeves, doing sinful things to that spoon. Oh, how she wished she was that spoon.

But it seemed Simon was content to keep her at arm's length, to deny what was clearly between them, so as they were promenading today, Daphne decided to take a more direct approach. She took a careful look around to make sure no one was within earshot and turned to Simon. She took a deep breath, “I would like you to teach me how to shoot.”

Any less composed man would have stopped straight in his tracks. Simon looked at her incredulously. “Shoot? As in a rifle? No chance.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Very well. I shall ask the Prince.” At this, Simon truly did stop, but Daphne carried on walking, a small smirk on her face.

Simon imagined Daphne in a loose white shirt and dark breeches tucked into riding boots. She would raise the rifle to rest against her shoulder, and the prince would come up behind her, her back flush to his chest, and run his hands up and down her arms, adjusting her grip. He would tilt her hips with his own to strengthen her stance. Her body would fit his perfectly because that’s what she was. perfect. He would lean down to whisper in her ear, he would brace her body with his own, absorbing the kickback. She would turn her smile on him, the one, the special smile when she was pleasantly surprised…one that she had recently only been giving him.

Nope. No way in hell was anyone save him seeing Daphne like that. She wanted to learn how to shoot? He would teach her.

“Daphne. Daphne no need to ask the Prince, I would be honoured to teach you to shoot. I have a place an hour outside London, how about I take you tomorrow and we make a day of it?”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you…”

“No, No problem at all. No inconvenience.”

Daphne smiled. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

.

.

.

She had told her family she was going out on a long ride. Thankfully her mother was rather busy today and Anthony was not at home, so it had been easy to take off. She rode about thirty minutes outside of London to meet Simon, to ride the final way back to his estate.

Simon had to a double-take when he saw her coming down the road. Her hair was up but loose, swinging wildly, and her loose shirt looked like she had taken it from one of her brothers, but the breeches. The breeches looked they had been tailored specifically to her body like they existed to caress and highlight all of her delightful curves. Fuck.

He had to get the issue in his breeches under control. Asap.

When he came out of his thoughts, he noticed Daphne had already come to a stop next to him and was sporting a half-smirk. As if she knew exactly what kind of thoughts were running through his head. He turned and gestured for her to follow.

“Just another 20 or so minutes this way.”

“Lead the way, your grace.”

He was thankful she was behind him, she did not need to see what her using his title —which he normally hated—did to his not-so-little-problem.

.

.

.

The lesson started with the basics: checking the gun to see if it was loaded, loading the gun, safety on and off, and some other basic checks. Simon then shucked off his waistcoat and jacket till he was just left in shirtsleeves. He winked and rolled up his sleeves. With that, he stood, took aim and shot, aim dead centre on, hitting the bullseye and making it look like it was child’s play.

As much as Daphne wanted to keep control of the situation, that display of sheer competence and strength and control with him dressed like that had gotten her a little hot under the collar. She unbuttoned a couple of buttons on her shirt as Simon approached. He simply raised an eyebrow, and she raised one of her own in response before he cracked a half-smile and spun her to face forward and placed a rifle in her hand.

“So you had best stand shoulder-width apart, relax your legs and keep most of your weight on your rear foot. Don’t tense, relax and ground yourself.”

He placed his hands on her hips and slowly twisted them a bit, but left his hands there.

“Excellent. Now support your elbow against your side, there you go, and..no..no..here I’ll show you.”

He came closer so her back was cradled in his chest, and felt her breath catch at their proximity.

He trailed his hands up her torso and down her arms to slowly adjust her grip before sliding them back down to keep her hips aligned with his.

“Yes, now brace the rifle against your shoulder, mhm excellent, and now look straight ahead..”

He turned his head so he was speaking directly into her ear, breath warm and voice barely above a whisper,

“When you shoot, you shoot to kill sweetheart. You don’t want to give yourself too much time, don’t want to be distracted. Timing is everything. It’s a dance between hunter and hunted. Tell me Daphne…which are you?”

Daphne felt her heart skip a beat at his low and seductive tone. Oh come on, not now, Daphne thought to herself. This was her chance to seduce Simon, not the other way around.

Every little touch from Simon, every time he joked around with her, winked at her, the way he said her name … any and all of it sent little shocks and shivers up and down her spine. It was not okay. For him to talk to her like that about the hunter and hunted as though he were implying something, well, Simon could shove all that talk right up his beautiful, muscular –

“You still with me?” Simon breathed.

Daphne swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, sorry, lost in the clouds for a second. So, timing..we were talking about timing?”

Simon shrugged, ready to continue the lesson. “You shoot between the heartbeats. Think of the rise and fall of your heartbeat, your breath. The way it goes up and down, that beat in the middle where there is the pure stillness before the beat restarts – that millisecond is when you shoot.”

Daphne frowned, a little unsure about what he meant. She could discern no still beat in the middle, granted around Simon her heart always seemed to beat a little faster. Simon must have sensed her confusion because he set the gun down, spun her around, took her hand, and held it against his chest.

“Feel my heartbeat?” he asked.

Gulp. “Yes.”

“Good. Now, close your eyes.”

Daphne did and tried to calm her heart and slow her racing thoughts. Trying to get herself under control —not an easy thing to do with Simon’s rough, calloused hand gently closed over hers, her hand on his warm, muscled chest— as she tried to find that space between beats.

“Good,” Simon said and spun her back around into his chest. He brought his hand back up, still gently holding hers, to her heart. “See if you can feel yours.” Daphne prayed that her pounding heart couldn’t be felt through her hand into his.

Feeling her heart speed up as her other senses magnified, she felt the warmth and safety of his embrace, breathed in his spicy, earthy, manly scent, and gasped. She dropped his and her hands to her side, still intertwined and attempted to take a step out of his embrace to put a little distance between them, to regain control of her senses.

Simon let go of her hand to pull her body back flush against his.

“Sweetheart you aren’t going anywhere.”

And with that, he tilted her head back and his lips descended onto hers. She could feel his heartbeat and broke the kiss to spin back and run her hands up his torso to link behind his neck and pull him back into a kiss.

Simon broke the kiss to look at her, face earnest and eyes a tempest of passion. You mean more to me than I cared to admit, but no longer. I can’t hold back. I don’t want anyone else to have you and I want you to choose me. I love you.”

Daphne felt tears come to her eyes and she waved off Simon’s concern, “They’re happy tears, all I ever wanted was you.”

Simon smiled and drew her back into a kiss, and somehow it felt right to let Simon take the lead. His free hand found its way into her hair, tugging just slightly at the root. She responded favourably, moaning at the slight pain mixing with the pleasure in a toxic cocktail meant to relieve her of her senses. Simon ran his tongue over her bottom lip, a silent request for access that was granted, there was nothing she wouldn’t give him if he continued kissing her like she was his very reason to live. Simon’s tongue massaged hers, and his hands ran up and down her body, trying to bring her closer and closer. Daphne wrapped her legs around him, and he lifted her easily, he would do anything to have her closer. Her hands made their way into Simon’s hair as he kept one hand on her neck to tilt her head and one hand under her ass to keep her twisted around him.

They were both struggling for breath when Simon pulled away with a huge smirk on his face. He settled his forehead against hers, as Daphne cupped his face with her hands. Daphne gazed into his eyes, sure that the adoration in his was equally reflected in hers.

“Alright sweetheart, you got the main thing you came for. Now how about we get to the other?”

“Hmm?”

“Sweetheart, I know you came to me to learn how to shoot to get me to kiss you, and maybe even go further.”

Daphne felt her face heat up. “No, I really don’t know how to shoot. And besides, you came onto me.”

Simon laughed, gently setting her down to stand next to him. “Ever the sassy one aren’t you”

Daphne straighten her shirt and attempted to put her hair to rights. “Yes. Now, back to the lesson.”

Simon smirked, but drew her back to his chest and handed her the gun. She checked the safety and assumed the stance as he has taught her, and took aim. The recoil on the gun was less than what she had expected, and it had felt good to shoot. When she raised her eyes to the target, she saw she was only a little off the centre.

“Not bad,” Simon offered, “Better than I thought you’d do for your first shot. Let’s try a few more.”

Daphne smirked as she emptied the gun. Not bad he said? She would show him. She didn’t wait for him to come up behind her or check her position, she took aim and shot. Looking at the target, she was only a hair off the centre.

“Never shot before you say?” Simon turned to face her, one eyebrow raised.

“Well maybe once or twice.” She wasn’t about to let him know that she had learned from her father right alongside Colin and Benedict and Anthony.

“Very well then, let’s see how you do under pressure,” Simon said with an evil grin. He came to stand behind her, hands at her waist.

As Daphne lined up her shot, she could feel his warm breath and slightly rough stubble tickle her neck. It sent all sorts of images through her head, making her want to drop the gun and jump back onto Simon to continue what they had started earlier. Drawing a deep breath to steady herself, she smirked and held the gun steady. “I don’t know Simon, I’m not one to crumble under pressure.

“We’ll see about that.” Simon brought his lips down to lightly suck and bite at the skin right over her pulse, and his hands were suddenly under her shirt, she didn’t even know when he had untucked it from her breeches, his fingers dancing over her skin and sending little bursts of electricity from one nerve to the next. His hands dipped lower, to caress her curves, on full display thanks to the tailored breeches. He raised his mouth to gently suck behind her ear, before breathing “This breeches…are sinful my dear.” He then kissed his way back down to her neck, his hands continuing their maddening exploration of her body.

Breath coming in short pants, before she lost control of her senses, she steeled herself to take a shot. She was determined to best him at this game.

BANG.

Before she could process where the shot had landed, Simon had snatched the gun from her hands, thrown out the remaining gunpowder and tossed the weapon to the side. A low growl came from his throat as he kissed her, rough this time, not holding back and most assuredly leaving bruises on her lips. Daphne wasn’t really sure how she was going to explain all the bruises upon returning home. His hands ran up and down her thighs and ass before pulling her legs up and around him once more.

As Simon moved his head lower to mouth at the bruises he had left on her neck, Daphne gazed behind him to quickly glance at where the shot had landed.

It had landed completely wide, and she groaned and felt Simon smile against her skin.

He drew his head back, most assuredly to gloat.

Before he could begin, she spoke. “Simon…I think I need a few more lessons…”

Simon threw his head back to laugh. “Sweetheart, you can have all the lessons you want…but I will be the only instructor you ever have.”

“I have no issues with that…in fact, I can think of a few more areas I need instructing in…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!!  
> Thank you so SO so much for reading, I hope you liked it —  
> if you ever wanna come yell at me about bridgerton or harry potter or criminal minds or one of my other 34 interests please comment or hmu on tumblr  
> disgruntledchowchow :)) 
> 
> also lmk what you’d like to see more of!!


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